Just a Spark
by MajorZeldaGeek
Summary: Mustang offering Ed the opportunity to be a State Alchemist. Oneshot. Brotherhood/manga. Mustang's POV. No spoilers. First fic ever please let me know how I did.


**Ok so this is my first story ever on this site and uhhhh yeah i was just exploring roy's character a bit. you'll notice that I refer to him as 'Mustang' and thats cause when he's acting all official and militaryish i think of him as Mustang but when he's being a dork I think of him as Roy. Throughout this fic he is official.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. I make no money from this.  
**

* * *

Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang stepped out onto the train platform, looking around at the small town of Resembool. It was one of those sleepy, out of the way places with not much to offer and only a single train platform. He cast a quick glance at his subordinate, Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye, who was busy asking a station worker where the Elric brothers lived. It was somewhat surprising that such a small town had not one but two talented alchemists.

"Sir." Hawkeye spoke, interrupting his thoughts. "The Elric brothers live a little ways out of town. One of the locals has agreed to take us there as soon as he gets ready."

He nodded once "Do you know how long they will take?"

* * *

Half an hour later Mustang sat on the back of a cart being pulled by a horse wincing every time they hit a bump (which was quite often). "You'd think that someone would have a car here." he grumbled. Hawkeye chose to ignore him.

After what felt like an excruciatingly long time they pulled up to a simple two-story house. "Alright," the farmer who had drove them spoke up "This is the house. Now I gotta go to my fields, but I'll send someone to drive the two of ya back one you finish up your business with Ed and Al. Don't worry about making them wait." With that he urged the horse to move and left them to approach the house.

The second they approached the door they both instinctively knew something was wrong. The door was slightly ajar and Mustang could quite clearly see dried blood on the steps.

"Hawkeye," he spoke "search the house, find the Elric brothers."

"Yes sir."

They both silently entered the house, military training taking over. Mustang following the blood trail and Hawkeye searching the rest of the house. _That's a lot of blood_ , he thought to himself. _Assuming that this is all from one person, they would have needed medical attention._ The blood trail led him to a stairway leading down into the basement. Pausing to take a deep breath Mustang headed down the steps, bracing himself for the worst.

He stopped at the base of the steps and gasped in horror at what he saw. There was a lot more blood here, but that wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was the complex transmutation circle drawn on the floor. A _human_ transmutation circle. He recognized it from the time when he had thought about attempting it himself, before he'd chickened out and Hughes had punched him in the face. In the center there was a large amount of blood splattered on the floor, however whatever had been there was long gone. At the edge of the circle closer to where he stood was another pool of blood with drag marks leading over to something in the corner where there was another pool of blood. All of the blood had dried and the air was stale, Mustang guessed that it'd been roughly a week since this had all happened.

As he stood there frozen looking in horror at the gruesome scene, Mustang could hear Hawkeye coming down the stairs.

"Lieutenant Colonel, they're not in back either." She reached him and gasped at the sight. "What is this?"

And suddenly Roy Mustang was _furious_. "Where are they?! Where are the Elric brothers? I want them found!" he demanded.

* * *

Mustang marched up to a house with a sign reading 'Rockbell Automail'. According to the local sent to drive them back to town Edward and Alphonse Elric would most likely be here. As he purposefully walked up the steps a dog began barking informing the residents of a guest's arrival.

From inside the house a muffled voice spoke up "Oh hush Den, don't bark at our guests." A small elderly woman opened the door "Yes?..." she said expectantly.

Mustang rudely pushed past her and entered the house.

"Hey!" she exclaimed. "What is this?! You have no reason to come barging in here!"

He ignored her and continued into the house. Mustang turned to the left and saw... a _boy_ sitting in a wheelchair. He was definitely the one who attempted human transmutation. His dull eyes had seen hell.

Getting over his initial shock of seeing that Edward Elric was just a child, Mustang remembered the reason he was here. He stalked over to the boy, picking him up by the front of his shirt, "We went to your house and we saw the floor. What was that!? What did you do!?" he shouted, Edward's only reaction was to look down guiltily, hiding his face behind his bangs.

Mustang felt a large hand on his shoulder trying to calm him down. "We're sorry." a small childish voice spoke. "We didn't mean it. We're sorry. We're sorry. We're sorry." He began to shake, voice breaking, "We're sorry."

Realization slammed into Mustang as he looked up at the suit of armor. "Wait are you...?" he whispered unable to finish, _hollow_.

* * *

They all sat at a table, Mustang across from Dr. Rockbell, Edward sat between them and Alphonse stood behind his brother too bulky to sit at the table with them. Hawkeye was left with Dr. Rockbell's granddaughter in the living room. "This is a surprise to say the least." He began, "I'd heard reports that there was a brilliant alchemist living in this town," he paused glancing over at Edward, "The last thing I expected to find was a boy skilled enough to attempt human transmutation," Looking up at Alphonse he continued "Or advanced enough to bond a soul to a suit of armor. I'd say he's more than qualified to become a State Alchemist. Should he choose to accept the position he'll be required to serve the military in times of national emergency. In return he'll receive privileges and access to otherwise restricted research materials. Given time they may be able to get their bodies back or even more." As Mustang finished his speech he saw a tiny spark in Edward's eyes, the first sign of life he'd seen from the boy.

A sharp bang sounded as Dr. Rockbell slammed down her pipe. "Right after he came stumbling to my door half dead and covered in blood I went over to their house to see for myself what had happened. What was there," she paused "Whatever that thing was it wasn't human! Alchemy created that abomination, it nearly killed them! And you want to throw those boys headlong into it?! Would you really have them go through that kind of hell again?!"

Mustang knew that the main reason she was protesting was to try to protect those boys from more harm, but her words still irritated him. Instead of arguing with her he turned and directly addressed Edward. "I'm not forcing you, I'm merely offering you the possibility. Will you sit in that chair wallowing in self pity? Or will you stand up and seize the chance the military can give you?" The spark in his eye was still there but it hadn't caught yet. "If you believe the possibility exists for getting your bodies back you should seek it out, keep moving, whatever it takes even if the way ahead lies through a river of mud." With that he stood up and opened the door. "We're leaving." Mustang told Hawkeye.

"Yes sir." She replied and followed him out of the house.

* * *

Later as he and Hawkeye were riding back into town, "Will they be coming?" Hawkeye asked.

"They'll come." he replied confidently.

"That poor boy, I've never seen anyone look so defeated."

"That's what you saw? No. There was fire in those eyes."

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 **Thank you for reading. Please review I could really use some constructive criticism. Also I know the title is really really stupid if you think of one that's better please let me know (don't worry I'll give credit)**


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